


Never Again

by ericsonclan



Series: A Pirate's Life For Me AU [45]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirate, Family, Friendship, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Injury
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-01-26
Packaged: 2021-03-12 10:21:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29008950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Mitch and Violet process their guilt in the aftermath of the fight with the Delta where Violet and Clementine were permanently injured.
Relationships: Mitch & Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running), Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: A Pirate's Life For Me AU [45]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683673
Comments: 8
Kudos: 4





	Never Again

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

“Shit, looks like it’ll rain soon,” Mitch’s expression was sour as he led Violet onto the upper decks then his eyes widened in apology. “Fuck, I didn’t mean to-”

“Remind me you can see? Chill, Mitch,” Violet waved her free hand dismissively, the other clinging tightly to her friend’s arm. “Stuff like that doesn’t bug me. It’s the actual blindness that fucking sucks,”

“Ruby said you were seeing some things thought, right? That’s a good sign,”

Violet shrugged. “There’s some light, vague colors, blurry shapes. She told me I’d pretty much have to re-memorize where everything was. I just hope it’s not too long till I can actually find the head on my own. I’m sick of being escorted to the bathroom, especially by Prisha. It’s fucking embarrassing,”

“Prisha doesn’t mind. Hell, she probably enjoys helping you find the bathroom,”

“That’s fucking weird, Mitch,”

“Shut up,” Mitch’s brow furrowed as he looked out on the sea once more. It was a sickly green. There would definitely be a storm tonight, probably a rough one too. But for now the upper decks were empty, the ship anchored in place. Louis had arranged for the rest of the crew to be occupied with other tasks so that Violet could get in her exercise without being overwhelmed by the sounds of others at work around her. Ever since the injury, Violet had been especially sensitive to noise. Giving her space to relearn the ship wasn’t much, but it was all most of them could do for now.

Cautiously, Mitch stepped over toward the center of the ship. “We’re approaching the main mast if you want to touch it and shit. Heard that helps,”

“Yeah,” Violet’s voice was soft. It had always been that way but now it seemed as though she rarely spoke above a whisper. She reached out hesitantly, her fingers tracing the wood that was smooth from years of being weathered by the winds and waves. “It feels like it always did: like a mast,” Her hand moved upward, tracing one of the ropes that dangled alongside the mast. Mitch wondered if she was remembering all the times she used to climb the mast with ease and head along the main boom, sitting amongst the sails in her own private world. Someday she would get that back. She had to. Violet wouldn’t be Violet without somewhere to hide all by herself.

“You’re doing it again,”

“Doing what?”

“Pitying me. I know I make it easy, but you could at least do a better job of hiding it,” Violet’s hand dropped, and she waited silently for Mitch to take her arm and guide her once more. Mitch acquiesced, guiding her step by step toward the fore mast. Violet’s grip on his arm was tense. Gently he placed his hand on top of hers on his arm, hoping the gesture would help center her. He glanced over at her face, still covered in bandages. It had been a few weeks since the explosion. Hopefully with time her eyes would grow strong enough to handle sunlight once more but who knew when that would be.

“For what it’s worth, I wasn’t pitying you,”

“Mhm,”

“I’m serious! I wasn’t thinking of you at all! Well I was, but I was mainly thinking about what an idiot I was for staying on the ship that day. I should have jumped over to help you and Clem,”

“That’s fucking stupid. You were busy protecting Willy and helping Brody. Everybody was swamped. Besides, it’s not like having you on the Delta ship would have changed anything. A fucking cannon exploded. Nobody could have stopped that,”

She was right. Still, it did little to ease the guilt. Violet had been blinded, perhaps for the rest of her life, and Clementine had lost a leg because of that Delta attack. Meanwhile Mitch had escaped relatively unscathed. That wasn’t right. No matter how much logic there was in Violet’s words, Mitch had found his thoughts trapped in an unending loop these past weeks, caught in a replay of the day’s events again and again, wondering what he could have done differently. Perhaps if he’d coordinated better with the others, they would have been able to spare him on Ol’ Kickass and he could have jumped over onto the Delta pirates’ ship. Thoughts of spotting the faulty cannon and pushing it out of the way were fantastical at best but still if he had been over there then perhaps he could have shielded Violet from that blast, covered her and Prisha and taken the brunt against his own back. For his back to be covered in scars was nothing compared to what had happened to Violet’s eyes.

“We’ve taken fifty steps, right?” Violet’s words cut through the haze of his thoughts.

“Uh, yes?”

Violet sighed in annoyance. “You’re supposed to be counting with me, dumbass! How am I gonna remember where everything is if I can’t get my steps right!”

“Let’s take a break,” Mitch muttered, pulling Violet toward the bannister of the ship.

“I don’t need one!”

“Well I do!” Mitch immediately regretted his tone. “Shit, Vi-”

“No, I get it,” Violet’s tone was bitter, cold. “It’s a lot of work being with somebody who can’t fucking see,”

“That’s not what I-”

“I want to go back to the room now,” Violet was trying to hide it, but Mitch caught the tremor in her voice.

“Vi, if we go in there, we’ll wake up Prisha from her nap. We barely got her to take one in the first place. You know as well as I do if we head in there before we said we would, Prisha will never let herself take a break again,”

“…I know,” Violet’s voice was quieter than ever as her head bowed.

Shit. All he had done was make her feel like even more of a burden. “Vi, you know what I meant by that. Prisha loves you. So much that she doesn’t rest like she should sometimes. That’s why I said that. It’s not your fault,”

“If me telling you it wasn’t your fault doesn’t work on you, what makes you think turning it the other way around will work on me?”

Mitch looked over at his lifelong friend. Her body looked so frail now, thin as a pile of kindling and battleworn with cuts and burns littered all over her neck and arms. A tear had slipped from below her bandages and was slowly making its way down her chin. Yet she stood as resolute as ever, the same fire still burning within her that he’d seen each day she fought to keep them alive on the streets. Violet was battered and bruised, but as low as her spirit had fallen it was not yet broken. He would make sure it never did. Taking her hand again, he led her back towards the main mast. “Come with me,”

“Where are we going?”

“Where you want to be. And since nobody else is on deck they can’t fucking stop us,”

“And where is that?”

“Just… stay here, OK? Wait a minute,” With that Mitch began climbing up the mast, stopping only once he had reached the boom. Violet was standing below looking lost but still waiting to see what he could do. Reaching for the nearest rope, Mitch pulled it up, looped it with a stopper knot to close the loop then threw it over the boom and lowered it toward Violet. The wind that had picked up slightly made the rope swing back and forth, hitting Violet’s cheek as it drifted down.

“What the fuck?” Violet exclaimed, backstepping in shock.

“It’s just a rope!” Mitch called down. “Find the loop and step through it! I’m gonna use it to hoist you up!”

Violet seemed unsure of the plan. Her hands ran across the rope cautiously and when she found the knot she tugged it, testing its strength. Of course it held. Mitch’s knots always did. She stepped through it one foot at a time, positioning the loop snugly before nodding. “Ready,”

Slowly, placing one hand over the other, Mitch pulled on the rope. Violet lifted a few inches off the ground. Inch by inch he pulled her up, taking his time to make sure that the ride up was as steady as possible. As soon as Violet was within reach, he tied off the rope and took her hand, pulling her up the rest of the way. “Careful. We don’t want you stepping anywhere you shouldn’t,”

“This is fucking insane,” Violet’s voice was tight; clearly she was worried to be up so high.

“C’mon,” Mitch cajoled, trying to ease her fears. “You know the walkways of this ship better than anybody,”

“That was when I could fucking see, Mitch! Shit… take me down,”

“Are you sure?” Mitch’s hands held Violet’s, feeling the tension that froze her in place. “If you’re sure, I will. But I promise I won’t let you fall,”

The tears on Violet’s face had dried in the wind, now faint traces upon her cheeks. Her face turned into the wind, the rough locks of hers blew waving this way and that with the gusts. She was considering her choice. Finally, she spoke. “I want to be sitting. My back against the mast,”

“We can do that,” Mitch shifted to position Violet at the point where the boom was thickest, angling her so her back rested against the security of the mast. Helping guide her to sit, Mitch took his seat beside her, his hand in hers. “The rope’s still around your waist. Nothing’s gonna knock you over that I can’t stop,”

“There’s a storm coming,”

“We’ve still got a few minutes before we need to head inside,”

They were quiet as they sat up there together, their feet gently dangling beneath them off the edge of the boom, kicking the air as they took in the salty sea breeze and the calm, steadfast presence that was the sea. Violet remained silent, but Mitch could tell that she had relaxed a bit, her form no longer as tense as it had been not long before. Instead her shoulders slouched forward by her neck, her back curving with the same terrible posture that Ruby always scolded her on ever since they’d met. 

“What color is it today? The sea,”

Mitch looked over, rather surprised Violet had spoken. He cleared his throat. “It’s that gross green color that it gets before a storm, like snot,”

“And the clouds?”

“Really dark, grey. I bet you can picture the shade they are from how the thunder has started rumbling,”

Violet nodded. “That’s what I guessed. I just hope I can remember it later on, once…”

“Once what?”

“Once I’ve had these bandages for years,”

“Violet. That’s not gonna fucking happen. Ruby said it herself: the fact you’re seeing colors and shit means you’re not gonna need those bandages forever. You’re gonna see again,”

Violet shook her head. “It’ll never be the same. My eyes will be shit for the rest of my life and the longer they’re like that…” her voice broke. “The more I’ll forget,”

The tears were coming faster now. Mitch was unsure what to do. He didn’t want to shift much for fear of putting Violet in danger. Swapping the hand that held hers, he used his free one to take her shoulder and guide her head to rest against his shoulder. Her tears dampened his shirt as the rain began to fall in a light drizzle. Mitch remained silent. All those years on the streets when they were starving and beaten and cold he’d never seen Violet cry. Perhaps that was because she was never alone; Tenn and Willy were always around, needing guidance and protection. Needing her to be strong. But now they weren’t here to see her cry and for the first time in his life Mitch saw Violet cry. All he could do was stay beside her and let it come out.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled, his eyes downcast. “I know it’s not worth shit, but I am. We were always there for each other, no matter what. Finding food, looking out for danger - we had each other’s backs. That didn’t change when we became pirates. It’s still my job to look out for you, to protect all of you. I failed that day. But it won’t happen again, not ever,”

“You’re not the only one,” Violet murmured. “Our family’s grown since the days on the streets. We all look out for each other. And Clem got hurt on my watch. I was right there, on the same fucking ship, and I couldn’t do anything to stop Minnie. Clem lost her leg; it’s gone. Maybe if I’d been able to get Minnie to listen…”

“That’s what you’re blaming yourself for? Vi, whatever happened to Minnie all those years she was gone changed her. Changed her in a way there’s no coming back from. She wouldn’t listen, not to any of us,”

“I could have tried harder,”

“You gave it your fucking all, Vi. We all saw that. Nothing was gonna get through to Minnie. Her head’s too fucked up for that now,” Mitch looked to Violet, seeing the uncertainty in the uncovered portion of her face. “Vi, you can’t see what happened to Clem as your fault. That was all Minnie,”

“And my wrecked face is a cannon’s fault, not yours,” Violet turned to Mitch as if hoping to get some confirmation her words had touched him even through his silence. “Guess it’s not that easy to accept, huh?”

“Not easy at all,” Mitch kicked out his leg, the toe of his boot scuffing the mast.

“Then what do we do?”

“Make sure nothing like this ever happens again,”

“And if we can’t do that?” The fear in the question was palpable.

Mitch squeezed her hand, gripping it all the firmer. “We get stronger. We give it everything we’ve fucking got. Just like we’ve always done,”

A small smile crossed Violet’s lips. “Should’ve known you’d give an answer like that,”

Mitch shrugged. “It’s all I’m good for. Put me in front of an enemy, I won’t stop till I obliterate them,”

Nah,” Violet shook her head, “You’re worth more than that. You’re the only one to have the guts to get me up here again. That’s worth something,”

A rueful smile tugged at Mitch’s face. “It made you feel a bit better?”

Violet nodded. “A bit more like myself. We should probably get down though. Rain’s getting harder,”

“Right. You OK up here on your own for a minute?”

“I can manage,”

Climbing down from the mast, Mitch kept a careful eye on Violet, ready to catch her if need be. Once his feet touched the deck he grabbed the rope, giving it a tug to signal he was about to start before slowly letting Violet down inch by inch. Her feet had scarcely reached the deck when the rain truly began to pour. They both ran hand in hand toward the steps to the lower decks.

“I’ll tell the others we gotta get ready for the storm!” Mitch called over the sound of the rain. “You think you can get back to the sleeping quarters on your own?”

“I’ve got this!” Violet called back. Letting go, she traced a hand along the wall of the corridor leading toward the rooms. “Go get the others!”

Giving Violet one final glance, Mitch turned toward the kitchen where he knew Omar had most of the crew busy at work peeling this week’s potatoes. Violet was gonna be alright. Not all the way better, but she wasn’t giving up. She’d continue her own internal fight and he’d do his best to keep her safe. He’d keep all of them safe. It was time to weather a storm.


End file.
